Design a Computer Controlled Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Thruster Using Smart Closed Loop Controller

Abstract

The first step of designing an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) depends mainly on the selection of the thrusters, as UUVs require many thrusters to be installed onboard for smooth operation. The problems with the widely used thrusters in UUVs are the relatively large dimensions, and they just spin in the water without reporting any kind of important information such as the status of the thruster and the RPM of the motor. This project aims to design and implement a new computer-controlled thrusting system from end-to-end that fits various UUVs with more advantages including a smaller sized thruster, cheaper in price, and with more additional smart capabilities that report the thruster’s instantaneous RPM, power consumption, proper operation, malfunctions, damages, and water stream blockage. The new thruster has Forward Thrust of 3.5 kgf, Reverse Thrust of 2.45kgf, and a maximum Power consumption 172.8 which is close to other widely used thrusters with the advantage of reporting operational status.

Keywords

• Thruster
• ETR100
• UUV
• Blue robotics
• SeaBotix

Design and Implementation of Computer Controlled UUV Thruster Using Smart Closed Loop Controller

Abstract

The first step of designing an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) depends mainly on the selection of the thrusters, as UUVs require many thrusters to be installed onboard for smooth operation. The problems with the widely used thrusters in UUVs are the relatively large dimensions, and they just spin in the water without reporting any kind of important information such as the status of the thruster and the RPM of the motor. This project aims to design and implement a new computer-controlled thrusting system from end-to-end that fits various UUVs with more advantages including a smaller sized thruster, cheaper in price, and with more additional smart capabilities that report the thruster’s instantaneous RPM, power consumption, proper operation, malfunctions, damages, and water stream blockage. The new thruster has Forward Thrust of 3.5 kgf, Reverse Thrust of 2.45kgf, and a maximum Power consumption 172.8 which is close to other widely used thrusters with the advantage of reporting operational status.

Keywords

• Thruster
• ETR100
• UUV
• Blue robotics
• SeaBotix

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